The Ministry of Justice recently seized control of HMP Birmingham from G4S after a surprise inspection found that those inside ‘used drink, drugs and violence with impunity and corridors were littered with cockroaches, blood and vomit.’ (The Guardian). These are shocking findings but unfortunately there have been countless reports stating the horrific conditions of many […] … more »

A recent article in The Guardian states that we need to offer women support instead of prison, a viewpoint that Safe Ground is very much on board with. The article entitled ‘Police ‘need to offer female offenders support not prison’’ is based on a London assembly report that stated women’s crimes are often linked to […] … more »

The majority of the men who had taken part in the five week Fathers Inside course at HMP Stocken were reunited with their families for the first time in months, maybe even years. The presentation was made up of an array of performances, jokes, games and heart-warming stories and poems, written by the men themselves. […] … more »

‘LAGS MISERABLES’ hollered the front page of The Sun two weeks ago.  ‘CONVICTS at a drug-plagued prison performed a lavish version of musical Les Miserables for the public — to boost lags’ morale.’ As someone convinced of the transformative potential of the Arts; and of the absolute necessity of artistic provision in our prisons, this […] … more »

Family to a man should mean love care safety and respect. To some it means nothing at all. In life you start off being born into a family usually with a mother and father with you as you go through your youth. Maybe your father worked hard for your family, maybe he didn’t. Maybe your […] … more »

Family Man and Fathers Inside are Safe Ground’s flagship family relationship programmes for men in prison, which have been delivered in over 50 establishments across England and Wales since 2003. Safe Ground alumni member Jason took the Family Man programme during his time in prison.  It was great to have the opportunity to speak to […] … more »

On January 17th, the University of Warwick Criminal Justice Centre, in partnership with Safe Ground and The Howard League for Penal Reform, hosted a workshop titled ‘Chaos and Crisis: Can Prison Be Better Than This?’ The workshop aimed to discuss problems inside prisons and debate viable ways forward from a range of experts in the […] … more »

One of the great things about Safe Ground programmes is the end of programme presentation. The recent Man Up presentation at HMP/YOI Isis in January was delivered with humour and honesty.  The opening speaker remarked that this was not “academy award stuff.” The insights gained were nonetheless riveting. Participants were eloquently talkative, very quiet and somewhere in between. This […] … more »

Safe Ground’s Fathers Inside and Family Man programmes have been completed by over 5000 students since 2003. I was delighted to be able to speak to one of our alumni, Richard, about how the arts and arts-based methodologies have helped him. Richard shared that Safe Ground was his first proper experience of the arts, apart […] … more »

Sergio Blanco’s Thebes Land cleverly utilises the ‘play within a play’ format popularised by Luigi Pirandello’s ‘Six Characters in Search of an Author’. The play tells the story of two men, Martin who is in prison serving a life sentence for killing his father, and Trevor a playwright who is interviewing Martin to write a […] … more »